Lindemann and golden trumpet return home

The St. Albert United Church reaches a new benchmark this Sunday when 50-odd musicians from the Mission Hill Brass Band and Mill Creek Colliery Band team up with trumpeter Jens Lindemann for a full-throttle afternoon of showmanship.

The energies have been building for six weeks and Mission Hill conductor A. Daniel Skepple, Jr. couldn’t be more thrilled to be sharing a stage with Lindemann.

“He’s considered by many as the best trumpet player in the world and Mission Hill has the opportunity to play with him. We need to involve ourselves with international artists and his sound and range is the best. The fact that he can play all genres, and not all musicians can do that, makes him very special.”

Lindemann was raised in Edmonton and attended McNally High School. After graduation he was classically trained at Juilliard and became a feature soloist with the prestigious Canadian Brass before moving to California to teach at UCLA.

Throughout his illustrious career, he’s performed in every major concert venue around the world, from Prague to Beijing and Montreal to Buenos Aires.

A Grammy and Juno award winner, he performs exclusively on 24K gold plated trumpets. How’s that for class?

Despite a career that most only dream of, he keeps up strong ties to his childhood home and returns annually for a few gigs.

Graeme Peppink, Ă©cole Secondaire Sainte Marguerite d’Youville music instructor and Mission Hill’s principal percussionist, has known Lindemann for several years.

Last summer when the trumpeter was visiting Edmonton, Peppink proposed a joint brass band concert. Six weeks ago Peppink received the green light and since then the two bands have been frantically rehearsing.

“Jens is a great guy. He loves to support the community, never mind the project,” Peppink said.

Not only will Lindemann perform his boisterous grooves as soloist, but he will also help carry the melody in several charts with the big band. In Leroy Anderson’s Bugler’s Holiday, he is leading a trumpeting trio with Skepple and Bryan Taylor.

For audiences the music will be as diverse as Gershwin, The Beatles and Sousa.

Mission Hill, for instance, is playing Edvard Grieg’s The Last Spring, the flashier In Good Company, and Gael Force, a substantial technical piece.

Lindemann will join the bands and probably ratchet the intensity in several emotionally poignant numbers, including Amazing Grace and Stars and Stripes.

“This is a chance for both groups to sound as good as they can and it gives us a chance to play as part of a beautiful large ensemble.”